so how did you get started in Lego
KidsFest I had been working for a
gentleman who asked me to come join him
in this company and I've been doing this
for about two years now helping to run
the shows and it's been a blast and
you're traveling all throughout the
country right so we average about five
to seven shows a year and we we hit all
North America we try to last year was
our first foray into Canada we went to
Calgary and that was a huge success so
and how do you love st. Louis so far and
how is the attendance so far for st.
Louis st. Louis broke every record we've
ever had for selling out we were sold
out two weeks before the show which is
unheard of and we normally do tend to
sell out but maybe not until a day or
two before so this was unbelievable and
we kind of knew this going in because
st. Louis has sort of the perfect
mixture of what we're always looking for
when we look for a city to go to which
is an amazing city an amazing space
facility for us to be in America stones
wonderful also for our LEGO fans which
we've we've got a ton of fans here I'm
one of the fans I just came in and I'm
so excited to see all of these really
unique pieces that I had no idea
somebody could make with Legos and so
I'm very impressed how many people do
you expect to see this weekend here at
the event probably about 20 more than
27,000 and that is split up by session
so we have five sessions so each session
has a certain number of people that
keeps it safe and happy and fun and
knowing it's not too crowded it's the
perfect amount of people per session and
I think it's fun for everybody in the
family what's the average age of the of
the fan the lego fan lego fan average
age is about six to twelve however we
have fans of all ages we even have an
area for the younger set with duplo
bricks which are the bigger bricks
you'll often find moms and dads even
participating
more earnestly than you will the child
because who doesn't love Lego bricks I
know I've become a lego brick fan too so
I think it's unique how can you like if
a child wants to create something that's
really different do you have something
like with the Lego website that you can
go to and you can find out unique
patterns or ways to make something
really different there's tons of ways to
go online and and even just lego.com has
tons of ways you can learn to build
stuff things we will hear about the
shows that we've got to Master Builders
out of seven in North America that are
here at the show working with the kids
to teach them how to be better builders
and you can do that on line 7 in North
America and we've got two at the show
all weekend and they'll be doing what we
call the master builder lab it teaches
you how to interlock bricks so that your
structures are stronger and and steadier
so the and it's fun fun fun I mean it
really just the kids love it i can
imagine i'm gonna have a master builder
build me a brand new car can we do that
right after he builds mine okay perfect
I want a really fancy sports car like
the one we saw up front oh yeah tell me
some of the unique things that keeps
like the kids are gonna see like
different types of I saw a Batman when I
came in that was spectacular so
something tell me about some of the
different things that are built and what
they're gonna see when they get here
well the first thing when they walk into
the show is the model Museum and that is
just spectacular and great for photo
opportunities definitely bring your
camera to show one of the stars of the
show is lightning McQueen and he was to
apply one of the Master Builders that's
here this weekend Chris dining her
lightning is a solid ton he's made up of
three hundred and sixty-five thousand
bricks and he took eighteen hundred man
hours to create by hand oh wow so
there's their Star Wars models there's
lego ninjago models there's models all
over the floor but that's not even the
biggest part of it I mean the more fun
is the interaction that you'll find on
the show floor and how about this big
giant fun pile that we're hanging out in
today so kids can come in and do
anything they just jump in the pile and
have fun literally jump in bury
themselves wade through or just sit and
bill
it starts up like this and it ends up
looking like a pancake but that's
because everybody is so involved it
really is one of the most popular things
on ll show for it is really fun i could
actually see that um kids would love
this it's like a big giant makes me like
a big giant sand pile only made up with
all sorts of legos right right and
during the whole time you'll see kids
build structures they'll build them
around themselves just sitting on Lego
bricks building it's really funny I
can't believe people make this stuff
isn't it amazing no it's beyond the main
I'm a creative person with geez Louise
ask chris each one of these bricks has
been a special epoxy for them okay and
if they've messed up they got taken off
starting I can only imagine when you get
all the kids and how much fun it is
because we energies you know I love
energy so what do we have here because
I'm all of a sudden feeling like we're
making a pizza we are well we are in the
brick battle zone the Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtle pizza relay race is one of
three things that go on in here and this
is all about teamwork so in the pizza
relay race you have to pick up your
pizza with the stone panel from over
there run over here grab some
ingredients with tongs so we've got
anchovies got our songs here are chunks
we got onions anchovies we got pep and
so we just put them on we pile on our
ingredients we pile on our greens and
then hey be completely covered and it
has to they have to be going the right
way that's right it I can't have them
all flipping upside down my onion has to
be a correct space right and as a team
everybody puts them together covers all
pizza and brings it back to the table
for our DMC Lego Mike to enjoy oh and
then somebody gets to win this contest
yeah everybody wins well I like that
that means I can never lose it this one
I'll in a big line that's for the little
kids that's the area yeah the line you
might want stick your head through mind
you he Wars is really are you serious oh
how cute
you're taken with other local
participants that it get involved in the
Lego event yes absolutely one of the
things that Lego love to do is bring in
educational partners that are also fun
just like Lego bricks are so we have a
lot of folks like we have the magic
house we have math science we've got the
Rams which is also fun so they're going
to be here and of course we are in their
stadium and it's conscious brings an
extra fun touch and allows the local
folks to get the word out about their
own organization sure they experience a
little bit more about st. Louis and all
that st. Louis offers and how there's I
like the unique tie into all of the
different people in st. Louis likes the
Rams or the magic house because kids
love that type of thing to write and it
goes along with the philosophy of Lego
which is have fun learn enjoy and build
and what is your participation at the
lego event here in st. Louis so our idea
is to engage kids and science activities
we want them to come and get excited
about science we have a whole bunch of
fun activities that the kids will be
able to participate in we're going to
learn about vortex gravity center of
balance here we're going to be using our
vortex generators it's basically like a
tornado and show the power of it wow
these comes from 20 feet away and then
this is your based out of st. moved here
so man science is actually globo that's
all around the world we are part of the
st. Louis mad science we offer after
school programs mad science birthday
parties school assemblies and summer
camps
and I am one of the Lego master builders
and a master builder for Lego is
responsible for all of this amazing
creation this is what they do to keep us
off the street corners keep the world
safe keep the world safe from evil evil
forces and uh what about this beautiful
slipper this is Cinderella's well this
is Cinderella's glass slipper will
almost glass it looks like glass it's
beautiful and you design that I was one
of the people working on this all of us
are mixing all of the projects in here
go say anything forth she's being a
little bit shy today ask her if she
likes her nice new slipper yeah this is
something we did for the kickoff the
Cinderella movie and we're pretty happy
with it I think it's beautiful what
gives you guys inspiration to create
some of the unique pieces mostly
imagination and direction from our
company clients people within the
company or seals our marketing
departments say what's coming up what
are we partnered in with what's new
product coming up and what can we do to
create imaginative models to to launch
that and get people enthusiastic about
it and they were looking for something
to do you know we've tied in with the
Cinderella movie it's like hmm what
could we come up with an icon for
Cinderella knows it hey
this is amazing this storybook now this
was your idea to create this the whole
idea of this exhibit was to give a boost
or Disney Princesses line we wanted to
provide an opportunity for for building
and imagination for kids that would
start with a theme and I mean really
with all of these Disney Princesses a
storybook is an obvious one so we lay
out a big story book type of a plaything
to start we have all these places where
they can build little castles or
whatever they want and add them to this
deck so at the end of the weekend this
is going to look like a whole populated
you know castle and fairytale land it's
so amazing so they get to add on to this
storybook that's already created and
they can just bolt build their own
except acyl today actly this is just a
little bit of planting some seed for
imagination here and what got you into
becoming a master builder for Lego well
the need for a job was the primary
consideration for me but I come in with
a pretty strong art background I have a
degree in fine arts from the University
of Connecticut I stayed self unemployed
as an artist artists craftsmen for a
long time then needed a real paycheck
and lucky enough to land on Legos
doorstep doing something really creative
that was right up the line of my
training and have you been enjoying st.
Louis so far so far we'd enjoyed it very
much it's a pretty cool city actually
yeah there's a lot we offer an awful lot
night um was just finding out from Tracy
you guys have a sold-out show that sold
out in unbelievable amount of time as
well we did this has been our fastest
sellout ever which is kind of
disappointing for the folks here who
want to come to it I wish we could
accommodate more well you'll have to
come back to st. Louis well we would
like to you know one of the things we do
to make it a quality experience as we
actually kind of keep our ticket sales a
little bit lower simply because people
don't like to come to something like
this and feel like sardines a lot of
people in here but there's open enough
so people are not going to spend their
whole afternoon waiting in lines and so
forth there's stuff for everybody to do
and they're not they're not jammed in
waiting to do stuff exactly that makes
it a more fun experience for everybody
you have more room to move around and
get to actually see things and
experience things have more fun with the
family
experience rather than thank you
good
you